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Finance Minister Christian Lindner (left) and Labor Minister Hubertus Heil in the Bundestag
Photo: Britta Pedersen / dpa
Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil (SPD) wants to give employees what he calls an educational period – but the plan is apparently on hold for the time being.
According to a report by the Bavarian media group from ministry circles, Christian Lindner's (FDP) Ministry of Finance "introduced reservations about the further training law in the departmental vote for budgetary reasons".
The German Press Agency confirmed this information from the environment of the Ministry of Finance.
According to Hubertus Heil's plans, which he only announced on Monday, employees should be able to receive paid training for a year in the future.
»Anyone who takes time off from their job to continue their education receives support from the Federal Employment Agency in the amount of the unemployment benefit.
So 60 percent of the income or 67 percent for families,” Heil had said.
The prerequisite should be an agreement between employer and employee.
According to the Bayern media group, the Ministry of Finance now said that the project would have “significant cost consequences”.
These must be “discussed before approval is given in connection with the federal budget and financial planning”.
A spokeswoman for Heil's Ministry of Labor told the Bayern media group "that the departmental coordination and thus the internal government talks are still ongoing".
Most recently, the plan was also met with skepticism in medium-sized companies.
The medium-sized companies benefited from the further training in view of the acute shortage of skilled workers, said the managing director of the Federal Association of Medium-sized Businesses, Markus Jerger, to the newspapers of the Funke media group.
»A law that allows a training break of up to one year completely ignores operational reality.«
Jerger said that as long as the financing, the replacement for the absent employee and the question of returning to work have not been clarified, such a law cannot be made with medium-sized companies.
kko/dpa
